h
we fight, for that reason I cannot hate you. Be not disturbed. Perhaps
it was the sucking of the wound and the grass tied round her finger
which saved her, not my spells and medicine. No, no, I cannot hate you,
although we fight for mastery, and you pelt me with vile words, saying
that I charmed a deadly _immamba_ to bite Little Flower whom I love,
that I might cure her and make a mock of you. Yet I do hate that snake
which bit the maiden Imba of its own wickedness, the hooded _immamba_
that you believe to be my familiar, and it shall die. Man," here he
turned to his servant, "and you, Ivana and the others, pull down that
wall."

They leapt to do his bidding, and presently discovered the _ringhals_ in
its hole. Heedless of its fangs and writhings, Menzi sprang at it with
a Zulu curse, and seizing it, proceeded to kill it in a very slow and
cruel fashion.

VI

The great drought fell upon Sisa-Land like a curse from Heaven. For
month after month the sun beat fiercely, the sky was as brass, and no
rain fell. Even the dews seemed to depart. The springs dried up. The
river Ukufa, the river called Death, ceased to flow, so that water
could only be found in its deepest hollows. The pool beneath the Rock
of Evildoers, the Death Rock, sank till the bones of those who had been
murdered there many years before appeared as the crocodiles had left
them. Cattle died because there was no grass; cows ceased to give their
milk even where they could be partially fed and watered, so that the
little children died also. Even in the dampest situations the crops
withered, till at last it became certain that unless rain fell within a
month, before another cold season had gone by there would be starvation
everywhere. For the drought was widespread, and therefore corn could not
be sent from other districts, even if there were cattle to draw it.

Every day Thomas put up prayers for rain in the church, and on two
occasions held special services for this purpose. These were better
attended than any others had ever been, because his congregation felt
that the matter was extremely urgent, affecting them all, and that now
was the time when, whatever happened to the heathen, good Christians
like themselves should be rewarded.

However this did not chance, since the drought went on as fiercely as
before.

Menzi was, of course, a rain-doctor, a "Heaven-herd" of the highest
distinction; one who, it was reputed, could by his magic cause the